Career Highlights: The Young Girls of Rochefort, Cul-de-Sac, The Soft Skin
First Major Screen Credit: Les Loups Dans La Bergerie (1959)
Biography
The stunningly beautiful French leading lady Francoise Dorleac was the daughter of film actor Maurice Dorleac. Possessed of razor-sharp comic timing, the tall, brunette Francoise was at her very best as the dimwitted heroine of the 1965 Jean-Paul Belmondo actioner That Man From Rio, and as one-half of a singing sister act in Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) (the other half was Francoise's real-life sister Catherine Deneuve). Francoise Dorleac's thriving career came to an abrupt and tragic halt when the 25-year-old actress was killed in a car accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Francoise Dorléac died when she lost control of the rented Renault 10 she was driving and hit a sign post ten kilometers from Nice at the end of the Esterel-Côte d'Azur motorway. The car flipped over, and burst into flames. She had been en route to Nice airport and was afraid of missing her flight. Dorléac was seen struggling to get out of the car, but was unable to open the door. Police later identified her body only from the fragment of a cheque book, a diary and her driving license.
Dorléac had intended to fly to Paris, then on to London to complete work on the film Billion-Dollar Brain. She was then to have stayed in Britain for the premiere of The Young Girls of Rochefort.
Filmography
(Partial list)
Les loups dans la bergerie (1960)
Les portes claquent (1960) together with her sister Catherine Deneuve